Growing Growers program cultivates more than plants

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Growing Growers, a program aimed at supporting new fruit and vegetable growers in the greater Kansas City area, has set the dates for its 2017 educational workshops.

“The program is a collaborative effort to provide education to new and experienced growers who are or who would like to grow fruits and vegetables to sell to help strengthen the local food system in the Kansas City area,” said Londa Nwadike, consumer food safety specialist with University of Missouri Extension and Kansas State Research and Extension.

The 2017 Growing Growers workshops are held in various locations. Check www.growinggrowers.org for more information.

· April 22 – Building Healthy Soils – Kansas City, Mo.

· May 1 – Postharvest Handling and Food Safety – Bonner Springs, Kan.

· May 22 – Equipment Maintenance – Lawrence, Kan.

· June 17 – Insects, Disease and Weed Management – Kansas City, Mo.

· July 15 – First Steps in Farm Business Planning – Kansas City, Mo.

· Aug. 14 – K-State Research and Extension Vegetable Field Day – Olathe, Kan.

· Sept. 11 – Conservation Agriculture – Lawrence, Kan.

· Sept. 23 – Livestock Options – Kansas City, Mo.

· Sept. 25 – Microgreen Production – Kansas City, Mo.

For those wanting even more hands-on experience, Growing Growers also operates an apprenticeship program in which individuals can work on fruit and vegetable farms in the Kansas City area (including Kansas and Missouri) to get first-hand, practical farming experience. The apprenticeship season has already begun, but there are still available spaces on local organic host farms.

Growing Growers is a collaborative effort of K-State Research and Extension, University of Missouri Extension, Lincoln University Cooperative Extension, Cultivate Kansas City, KC Healthy Kids, and the Kansas Rural Center.

For more than 100 years, University of Missouri Extension has extended university-based knowledge beyond the campus into all counties of the state. In doing so, extension has strengthened families, businesses and communities.